Oregon loves their beer and their microbrews. They love it as much as they love coffee and flannel. So we took advantage of the fact that so many different microbrews were available, from near and far, and drank a whole lot of espresso stouts. We purchased these at whole foods, and the check out girl actually chuckled at us after she rung everything up and was telling us how much it was. You don’t want to know. But hey, when in Oregon! The Overcast Espresso Stout, probably my personal favorite. It was super smooth. I don’t know what the open container laws are like in Oregon, but we drank it in Drake Park anyway. Arrest us, we don’t care!

The only non-stout that somehow snuck into our purchases was the Maui CoCoNut Porter. I think I saw this on tv once. It’s a good beer, but it does not have any kind of coconut taste in it, at all! Slightly false advertising. But a good beer.

Here’s the Laurelwood Espresso Stout, another favorite. J just happened to pour it out into a mug for espresso. It was just a coincidence. Also quite smooth, a bit stronger than Overcast.

Here’s where things start to get not so tasty. These two stouts by Mikkellen, Barrel-Aged Black Hole, are brewed with coffee, honey, and vanilla, and aged in either whisky or wine barrels. We thought these would be amazing. We were wrong. These just tasted strong and bad. And they were freakin’ expensive too. Coffee stout fails!

Dark Truth Stout. Ok, so this one was the worst one. It tasted like ashtray.
The Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing. This one was ok, but really strong, not necessarily in the best way, and just not really drinkable. I mean it wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t great. And there you have it! And no, we did not drink all of these in one sitting. Drink responsibly!

It’s been about 5 years since I was last in Bend, and the city has certainly grown since then. It is still just as beautiful. There are tons of new places eat. One of these new spots is the perfect new 10 Barrel Brewpub. They’ve been brewing beer for about three years, but the brew pub has only been open since February. It’s an amazing spot. It is warm, comfortable, and inviting. There is a nice outdoor eating area. The bar has two giant garage door type windows that open behind it, and you can just walk up to the bar, from the outside, and order food. So it’s one bar, with both seating indoors and out. The bartender was nice, friendly, and quite the multi-tasker. They have standard pub grub, salads, sandwiches, and pizzas. And of course, they have tons of their own beer. We only tried one and it was great.

J got the rib-eye chopped salad. Look how big and gorgeous this salad is! It is a giant heap of romaine, marinated rib-eye, red onion, tomato, cucumber, warm prosciutto, and avocado. It is typically served with a creamy gorgonzola dressing, but you can get whatever dressing you want. It’s a stupendous salad. I ate all the prosciutto out of it!

I got the 10 barrel mac & cheese. It was unbelievably great. It is large elbow pasta with a 4 cheese sauce, hunks of pancetta, and green onions, and is served in a hot cast iron skillet. You also get delicious, hot, buttery garlic toast. I love, love, loved it. Just like I love, love, loved this whole entire place. We really loved everything about this place, and would have happily gone back again and again. If you’re ever in Bend, please stop by! You will love it. It’s places like this that make me wish I lived in Bend!

The Salted Caramel ice cream from bi-rite creamery. Words… cannot… describe… You know on the Simpsons when Homer just starts drooling? Yeah, that’s pretty much this ice cream. It’s just… gah… I don’t know how… what… blargh. You just have to try it yourself. Bi-rite, I’m happy you’re far away.

Yum… a big old giant bottle of beer that’s the cost of like a case of beer… Look at it, it has a date bottle and they only made 600 cases… and it’s aged in oak barrels…

J kept on going on and on about this cabbage slaw from bi-rite, the market part. I can see why he likes it so much. The crunch, the zest, the technicolor beauty. It’s awesome. When it was nearly gone, there was still dressing left so we threw in some raw shredded cabbage in there to extend its life.

Before my flight out to SFO, I hung out in the US Airways lounge. You can’t bring outside food in, so I had to buy something or otherwise starve. I got the tuna salad. Oh the whole thing was just bad. The cucumbers were old, the tuna fish was blah, the croutons were old, and the greens were wilted. But the dressing was good! But overall, terrible and overpriced. I was very disappointed. The food on the airplanes is a thousand times better.
And here is some evidence of the food on the flights that I actually enjoy. My flight home was horrifically delayed. They did not even offer us a free cocktail or anything. But I had to eat so I got the cheese and fruit snack pack. I really like this thing. The grapes were sweet and fresh, and so were the strawberries. There were three different types of cheese cut into cubes and a few crackers. Plus, there were some juicy dried apricots. All in all, it’s not a bad deal!